New formulas coming from school funding

by Lisa Brown

No task is more thankless than trying to cut the fat from an already lean budget. But that's just what Spokane Public Schools and other districts around the state are doing yet again this year.

When I hear that Spokane school board members Wednesday night approved a budget that cut elementary librarian hours as just one cost-saving measure, it makes me wonder: Where are our priorities? Where would I be today if a school librarian hadn't introduced me to the pleasures of reading with "Charlotte's Web" or "Little Women"? And today's librarians are more important than ever: In addition to fostering a lifelong love of reading, they often serve as technology experts.

Elementary librarians are just one victim of districts' struggles to balance the books. So what's the cause of these budget troubles? Washington's basic education allocation formula – the way our state pays for K-12 public education – hasn't substantially changed since 1977. Back then, I was in college and the Apple II had just debuted as a cutting-edge personal computer. Things have changed dramatically in the years since. But we still are trying to fund 21st-century schools using an outdated 20th-century model, and it's time for change.

The Legislature this year invested nearly $2 billion more in our public education system, which translates to $897 in additional funding per student. Yet schools still are hard-pressed to pay for a growing list of testing requirements, as well as rising special education and transportation costs. In Spokane, budget cuts mean many other sacrifices, including the loss of a beloved community school, Pratt Elementary.

Retiring Spokane Public Schools Superintendent Brian Benzel put it bluntly when he said recently that the good news about Washington's 2007-2009 education budget is that it "could have been worse." I hear his concern. Along with most of my fellow legislators, I am keenly aware that the way we pay for our schools is tremendously outdated and in need of a major fix.

Some important steps already have been taken, and state leaders have a roadmap for updating our funding structure to reflect the challenges public schools grapple with in 2007.

First, what we've done. This year, the Legislature:

•Provided "bridge" funding for school districts – additional flexible dollars for districts to use while the state works to update the funding formula. Districts can invest this money in programs their individual student populations need, such as the Learning Assistance Program to offer extra help to struggling students.

•Fully funded cost-of-living salary increases for staff, plus extra funds to play catch-up for past years when previous legislatures failed to fully fund cost-of-living adjustments;

•Laid the groundwork for a new student transportation funding formula that will reflect actual transportation costs to districts, and will include incentives for efficient use of resources. The Legislature provided $25 million in additional transportation money to give districts some "bridge" funding while a new transportation formula is developed.

•Passed a measure giving voters the option this November of amending the state Constitution so a simple majority of voters may approve a school levy.

This is an excellent start, but there is more to do. School districts are begging for more money with more flexibility, not more money that comes with strings attached to new programs.

District administrators decry so-called "unfunded mandates." Let's get specific about this. While some overly burdensome or duplicative requirements can be eliminated, the mandates to serve and transport special-needs students or ensure the safety of our schools will always have to be paid for one way or another. And let's not forget: Whether from local levies or state or federal budgets, the money all comes from taxpayers.

Still, I carried school districts' sense of urgency with me to Olympia this year, working with fellow senators to create a bipartisan basic education funding task force. I have been appointed to serve on this panel of legislators and education stakeholders that will review Washington's incredibly complex funding formula and develop options for a new structure that is transparent, equitable and tied to performance measures. The task force builds on preliminary work done by Gov. Christine Gregoire's Washington Learns committee and will deliver its action plan in September.

There's plenty of blame to go around as to why school districts are facing tough budget cuts even in the midst of increased education spending: Historic underfunding at the state level, mammoth federal testing requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and decreased federal funding for dozens of education programs all are part of the problem. Local school districts, under pressure to meet high standards, have not always made sustainable budget decisions.

But the blame game won't get Washington a world-class public education system that prepares students for college, a career and life. What will get us there is a focused effort to make sure the funding formulas are fair and that public budgets at all levels are transparent, outcome-based and sustainable. Working together, we should be able to provide schools in Washington the resources they need. Our children deserve no less.

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